Supreme Court will hear health care lawsuit; McKenna pleased

The U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday that it will hear arguments over the Obama administration’s landmark health care law. State Attorney General Rob McKenna, who bucked Gov. Gregoire and joined 26 other states in a lawsuit against parts of the law, issued a statement Monday saying he was pleased with the court’s decision.

McKenna

“Today our nation’s highest court acknowledged that this case poses serious questions about the limits of federal power,” said McKenna, a Republican who is running for governor, in a statement. “Access to affordable, quality health care can be expanded without cutting constitutional corners. Health care reform is far too important to rest on an unconstitutional foundation.”

The law’s central piece, which has been challenged as unconstitutional, is a requirement that individuals buy health insurance by 2014 or pay a penalty if they don’t. Appellate courts have split on the issue, with a federal appeals court in Atlanta ruling the mandate is unconstitutional. Federal appeals courts in Cincinnati and in Washington, D.C., have upheld the law.

This decision to hear arguments in the spring sets up an election-year showdown over the White House’s main domestic policy achievement. And it allows plenty of time for a decision in late June, just over four months before Election Day.

McKenna said he was pleased the court agreed to hear the case in its current term.